Parking garage



June 26, 1962 s. FOSTER, JR, ETAL 3,040,913

PARKING GARAGE Filed Feb. 8, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I.

SAMUEL F05 T E R, JR.

THOMAS H. EYLES INVENTORS ATTOR EY June 26, 1962 s. FOSTER, JR, ETALPARKING GARAGE Filed Feb. 8, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 SAMUEL FOSTE June 26,1962 s. FOSTER, JR., ETAL PARKING GARAGE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 8.1960 SAMUEL FOSTER, JR

INVENTORS THOMAS H EYLES ATTOR EY June 1962 s. FOSTER, JR, ETAL3,040,913

PARKING GARAGE R 4 J..$S t M 6 EMT. N m s N R 4 0 E m w FH w. 6 [-5 r Mmf. 5 MW Filed Feb. 8, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 S. FOSTER, JR, ETAL PARKINGGARAGE INVENTORS SAMUEL FOSTER JR.

QWH$ FL W BYTHOMAS H. EYL

June 26, 1962 Filed Feb. 8, 1960 a! '30 [M30 BBC] [1 gggggggQ UnitedStates Patent 3,040,913 PARKING GARAGE Samuel Foster, In, Inglewood,Calif, and Thomas H. Eyles, Leominster, Mass, assignors to Foster GrantCo., Inc., Leominster, Mass, a corporation of Dela- Ware Filed Feb. 8,196a, Ser. No. 7,304 7 Claims. c1. 214 1s.1

This invention relates to a parking garage, and more particularly to theautomatic storage of automobiles and the like.

In the parking of automobiles in congested areas, two main problemspresent themselves. First of all, the land is quite valuable and thebuilding in which the garage is located is quite expensive. For thatreason it is necessary that the parking take place in such a manner thatthe most efiicient use of the space be provided. Secondly, the laborproblem is a difficult one because of the fact that the price of theparking facility must be kept low to attract customers and, yet, eventhe relatively unskilled labor necessary at present is quite expensiveand presents personnel problems. The conventional parking garage, whichconsists of a number of floors connected by ramps, in which the customerparks his own car or in which the car is turned over to an attendant, iswasteful of space, irrespective of the layout. Furthermore, after acertain number of stories have been reached in the building, it becomesquite difficult to expect either the owner of the car to take his car upand down; furthermore, if attendants are used, the time required for theattendant to take the car up to a given floor and back again is verylong and the turnover in the garage becomes drastically limited. As amatter of fact, the critical times in the beginning of the day whenpeople are coming into the garage for parking and at the end of the daywhen they are leaving determine the feasibility of any givenarrangement, since people will not patronize a garage in which they haveto spend too much time waiting for their automobile or in obtaining itthemselves. Many automatic garages have been developed in the past, mostof them using the socalled pigeonhole concept in which an elevator movesthe automobile both vertically and horizontally and deposits it in anopening in the face of the building on which the elevator operates. Itis impossible with such a construction to have a two-way flow oftraffic; that is to say, it is impossible without a very expensiveconstruction to permit one automobile to be moving downwardly to go outwhen another automobile is being moved upwardly to be placed in parkingposition. The space that may be serviced by one elevator is alsolimited. These and other difficulties experienced with prior art deviceshave been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide aparking garage or similar storage facility which is capable of automaticoperation from a remotecontrol central location.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an automaticparking garage in which a selected automobile may be removed at the sametime that another automobile is being placed in a parking position.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of anautomatic storage apparatus which makes extremely eflicient use of thebuilding in which it is located and which is relatively inexpensive tomanufacture and maintain.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a parkinggarage in which the location of a particular parked automobile is fixedat any given time so that the apparatus lends itself to automaticoperation by electrical control means.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a parking garagewhich is designed to provide ease of operation, speed, and economy andwhich solves many of the present day universal problems of parking andstorage.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a specialdesign of material handling platform for operation in an automaticparking garage or similar storage operation.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide astorage apparatus making use of a special pallet wherein the pallet andthe apparatus are designed to move the pallet in any one of fourdirections whereby optimum use of a given space may be made.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an automatic storagefacility which may operate effectively irrespective of the number offloors.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a parking garage inwhich a given automobile may be removed from the parking facility whiledisturbing only a minimum number of other automobiles and in which theposition of any given automobile may be known at all times.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a parking garage inwhich a minimum area in the building is occupied by elevators or otherapparatus for moving vertically from one floor to another.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a parking garagewhich, because of its automatic nature and the simplicity of its movingapparatus, may be constructed inexpensively and in such a manner as tobe strictly functional in that there is no need for safety devices orfor interior decoration of any kind.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a parking garagewhich is readily adaptable to ground areas of a wide variety of sizesand shapes.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a parking apparatuswhich, because of its automatic nature and which, because it is notnecessary for human beings to move into the parking areas, uses. simplegirder and conveyor constructions which would otherwise possibly besomewhat dangerous and, furthermore provides that, despite the skeletonconstruction, the oil drippings and melted ice and snow from oneautomobile do not fall on another automobile.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of partsset forth in the specification and covered by the claims appendedhereto.

The character of the invention, however, may be best understood byreference to certain of its structural forms, as illustrated by theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the exterior of a parking garageincorporating the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the garage showing the firstfloor, taken on the line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of the rst floor takenon the line III-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is another vertical sectional view of a portion of the firstfloor taken on the line IVIV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective inverted view of a pallet forming part of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the pallet taken on the line VIVI of FIG.5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view right side up of the pallet taken on the lineVIIVII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a horizontal plan view of a typical storage floor of theparking garage taken on the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view of the floor taken on the line IX-IXof FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a somewhat schematic perspective view showing the generalscheme of flow of automobiles through the parking garage.

Referring first to FIG. 1, wherein are best shown the general featuresof the invention, the parking garage, indicated generally by thereference numeral 10, is shown for use with an automobile 11 which isshown approaching an entrance 12. An exit, which is similarlyconstructed, is situated at the opposite side of the building but is notshown. At the side of the building opposite the entrance 12 are a downelevator shaft 13 and an up elevator shaft 14. As is evident from theview, the building construction is quite simple and inexpensive tomanufacture, being formed with vertical girders 15 joining horizontalconcrete slabs 16 which serve as the basic support for the floors. Thewall areas between the girders and the slabs are occupied by ornamentalaluminum screens 17 or the like. The mode of construction of the outerwall will depend to a certain extent upon the climate in which thegarage is situated; those garages which are built in tropical climateswill, of course, require less protection from the weather than thosewhich are situated in regions where severe cold is encountered. Suchornamental and functional features as a sign 18 and trees 19 may beprovided, if desired.

Referring now to FIG. 2, which is a plan view of the first or groundfloor, the entrance 12, the up elevator shaft 14, the down elevatorshaft 13, and an exit 21 are readily recognized. Also located in thefirst floor are a loading apparatus 272 and an unloading apparatus 23.Preferably a control center 24 is located at an intermediate position onthe first floor where the operator can observe both the loading andunloading operations. In this view it can be seen that the up elevator25 and thedown elevator 26 are located, as would be expected, in theshafts 14 and 13, respectively, in positions adjacent the loadingapparatus 22. and the unloading apparatus 23, respectively. Anunderground return tunnel 27 is provided joining the unloading apparatus23 to the loading apparatus 22 for a purpose to be described more fullyhereinafter. The details of the loading apparatus are shown in FIG. 4;it consists of two grooved parking lanes 28 and 29 having front wheel'stops 31 located somewhat inwardly thereof. A pusher apparatus 32 isassociated with each ramp and is provided with a vertically upstandingdog 33 which is movable along the ramp to an extreme position and whichis driven by an endless chain conveyor 34. In its extreme inwardposition the dog 33 is adjacent a conveyor 35 carrying a series ofpallets 36 adapted to carry the automobile 11. The conveyor 35 extendsfrom the panel 27 to the up elevator 25.

The details of the unloading apparatus 23 are shown in FIG. 3. One endof the conveyor 35 extends from the tunnel 27 to adjacent the downelevator 26 and, as is evident, carries a number of pallets 36. Twopush-off apparatus 37 are located beside the conveyor 35 in position toremove an automobile 11 from its pallet 36. From the position adjacentthe side of the conveyor 35 extends a chain type conveyor 38 for movingthe automobile forwardly of the pallet until the front wheels strike asafety treadle stop 39 which stops the conveyor operation. From thisposition the automobile may be driven away.

FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 show the pallet 36 in considerable detail, the palletbeing shown inverted in FIG. 5. It can be seen that it consists of aflat plate 46 of generally elongated rectangular shape which is somewhatlarger than the plan view of the largest automobile to be accommodated.From the upper section of the plate extends four flanges 41, 42, 43, and44, the space between the flanges 41 and 42 being maintained between theflanges 43 and 44 located at the other side of the pilot. A wide spacethus remains between the flanges 42 and 43 and this is occupied by ashallow depression 45 intended to catch oil drippings and the like. Awheel de pression 46 is located at one end of the pallet between theflanges 41 and 42, while a similar wheel depression 47 is locatedbetween the flanges 43 and 44'. At the other end of the pallet betweenthe flanges 41 and 42 is located an elongated wheel depression 48, whilea similar elongated depression 49 is located at the same end of thepilot between the flanges 43 and 44. Under each of the four corners ofthe pallet is located a caster 51 which, as is evident in FIG. 7, is ofthe ball type in which a socket 52 carries a large ball 53 forcompletely free rolling action. Each caster is closely adjacent to itsend of the pallet and is centrally located either under the space between the flanges 41 and 42 or the space between the flanges 43 and 44.Also located under the pallet are six guide and actuating blocks 54, 55,56, 57, 58, and 59. Each block extends downwardly from the under side ofthe plate 46 a distance slightly less than the casters 51 and all blocksare of the same width and thickness with their corners carefullyrounded. The block 54 is located at the forward end of the palletbetween the flanges 42 and t3 and is aligned with the two casters 51 atthat end of the pallet. The block 55 is located at the other end of thepallet in a similar position between the two casters at that end; bothblocks 54 and 55 are arranged with their lengthwise dimension extendingtransversely of the pallet. The blocks 56 and 57 are located under thespace between the two flanges 41 and 42 and are aligned with the twocasters 51 which are also located under that space. These blocks alsohave their lengthwise direction extending longitudinally of the pallet.The other two blocks 58 and 59 are located under the space between theflanges 43 and 44 and are aligned with the casters 51 arranged underthat space; in the same way these blocks have their lengthwise dimensionextending longitudinally of the pallet. It should also be noted that theblock 56 and the block 58 are located in the same position lengthwise ofthe pallet toward the front end, while the blocks 57 and 59 aresimilarly located with respect to one another at the rear end of thepallet. The location of the blocks relative to the casters can be seenfrom FIGS. 6 and 7 where the blocks 57 and 59 are shown in alignmentwith the casters 51 and the block 55 is shown in the background. Theblock 58 is shown associated with the caster 51 in FIG. 7 and, ofcourse,

' it will be understood that the block 56 is hidden in this view behindthe block 58. It should, perhaps, be noted at this point that thedepressions 48 and 49 are considerably longer in extent than thedepressions 46 and 47.

FIG. 8 shows a plan of a typical floor of the parking garage 10. Hereagain, the up elevator in its elevator shaft 14 and the down elevator 26in its shaft 13 are evident. Generally speaking, the layout consists ofan in aisle 61, an out aisle 62, a return lane 63 and a plurality ofparking lanes 64, 65, 66, 67, and 68. In the preferred embodiment thefloor plan is somewhat elongated, there being considerably greaterdistance between the elevator shafts 13 and 14 than there is in thetransverse direction. However, it will be understood that this wouldvary with the particular piece of land on which the building is built.It will be observed, also, that the in aisle 61 extends transverselyacross the floor and is aligned with the up elevator 25, whereas the outaisle 62 also extends transversely of the floor but is aligned with thedown elevator 26. The return lane 63 extends between the in aisle andthe out aisle closely adjacent to the elevators 25 and 26, while theparking lanes 64, 65, 66, 67 and 68 extend parallel to one anotherlongitudinally of the floor between the in aisle 61 and the out aisle62. In the position of the apparatus as shown in FIG. 8, all of theparking lanes are filled with pallets 36 which presumably carryautomobiles and the elevators 25 and 26 are at the level of the floorbeing shown. The entire floor is made up of a level formation in whichare formed a series of narrow and wide grooves. All of the wide grooveshave a width slightly larger than the length of the guide and actuatingblocks 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 59, while the narrow grooves have a widthslightly larger than the thickness of these blocks. Although, for thepurpose of simplifying the description, the floor has been shown asconsisting of a level area in which are molded grooves, it will beunderstood that a more functional and slightly less presentableapparatus could be formed from girders and the like for serving the samepurpose. It should be noted also that as a general rule the wide groovescontain chain type conveyors having dogs interposed along the chainswhile the narrow grooves have no conveyors situated therein. Thedistance between the narrow grooves in each of the aisles is the samedistance as exists transversely between the blocks 56 and 57 at one sideof each pallet 36 and the blocks 58 and 59 at the other side. However,this is true only for the lanes; the distance between the narrow groovesin the aisles 61 and 62, on the other hand, is the same as thelongitudinal distance between the blocks 54 and 55. In the same way, thedistance between the wide grooves in the aisles 61 and 62 is the same asthe longitudinal distance between the blocks 56 and 57 and also betweenthe blocks 58 and 59, whereas the lanes 63, 64', 65, 66, 67 and 68 haveonly one Wide groove which is located midway between the narrow grooveand arranged to be occupied by the blocks 54 and 55. The up elevator 25is provided with narrow grooves 69 and 71 which are aligned with narrowgrooves 72 and 73 forming part of the in aisle 61. In the same way, theelevator 25 is provided with parallel wide grooves 74 and 75, which arealigned with corresponding wide grooves 76 and 77, so that they formpart of the in aisle 61. In the wide groove 74 is located a chain typeconveyor 78 having upstanding dogs and a similar conveyor 79 is locatedin the Wide groove 75. The conveyors 78 and 79 extend from adjacent theback of the elevator to a point very close to the front of the elevatorwhere it joins the main part of the floor; each conveyor is providedwith a plurality of dogs, the dogs being matched so that they move inpairs side by side with the conveyor. In the wide groove 76 lies a chainconveyor 81 which is also provided with upstanding dogs and thisconveyor extends across almost the entire width of the floor from apoint adjacent the elevator to a point midway across the parking lane68. A similar chain conveyor 82 is located in the wide groove 77 and thedogs of the chain conveyors 81 and 82 are in synchronization.

In the same way the elevator 26 is provided with two narrow grooves 83and 84 with two wide grooves 85 and 86 between them. The narrow grooves83 and 84 are in alignment with similar narrow grooves 87 and 88 formingpart of the out aisle 62, while the wide grooves 85 and 86 are alignedwith corresponding wide grooves 89 and 91, respectively, also formingpart of the out aisle 62. In the wide grooves 85 and 86 in the surfaceof the elevator 26 are located chain conveyors 92 and 93 which extendalmost entirely across the surface of the elevator from the rear to thefront thereof; the conveyors 92 and 93 are provided with a plurality ofdogs and the dogs are in paired synchronization. Also, in each of thewide grooves 89 and 91 are located conveyors 94 and 95 which extendalmost entirely across the floor of the garage from closely adjacent tothe elevator 26 to the mid-point of the parking aisle 68; theseconveyors have a plurality of dogs and the dogs are in synchronizationwith each other. The return lane 63 is provided with two parallel narrowgrooves 96 and 97 and mid-Way between them a wide groove 98 having achain conveyor 99. The grooves of the return lane 63 all extendlongitudinally of the garage and, of course, at right angles to the inaisle 61 and the out aisle 62.

In the same way, each of the parking lanes 64, 65, 66, 67,

and 68 contains two narrow grooves and a wide groove intermediatethereof. For example, the parking lane 64 is provided with two parallelnarrow grooves 101 and 102 and a wide groove 103 located midway betweenthe two. In this wide groove are three chain conveyors 104, 105 and 106which are aligned with one another and each of which is provided with aplurality of dogs. The chain conveyor 104 starts halfway between theWide groove 76 and the narrow groove 72 in the in aisle 61 and proceedslongitudinally of the machine to a point approximately one-third of theway across the garage. The conveyor starts at that last point andcontinues another portion of the way across the garage and, then, theconveyor 106 picks up and continues to a point mid way between thenarrow groove 88 and the wide groove 99 in the out aisle 62. All of theparking lanes are similarly provided with conveyors. It will beunderstood that the grooves of the in aisle 61 and the out aisle 62 arecrossed by the grooves of the return lane 63 and the parking lane, andthat the corners of the intersections are suitably rounded to preventscratching and catching. Furthermore, it will be understood that all ofthe conveyors are capable of actuation from the control center 24 on thefirst floor. All of the conveyors, with the exception of the elevators,also are non-reversible and move in one direction only. For instance,the conveyors 78 and 79 associated with the elevator 25 move in adirection outwardly of the elevator and the conveyors 81 and 82associated with the in lane 61 move from the elevator toward the otherside of the garage. All of the conveyors associated with the parkinglanes 64, 65, 66, 67, and 68 move from right to left in FIG. 8 and theconveyors 94 and 95 associated with the out aisle 62 move toward theelevator 26 and the conveyors 92 and 93 in the elevator move from themain part of U the garage outwardly to move a pallet and its automobileinto the elevator. The conveyor 99 associated with the return lane 63moves from left to right in FIG. 8. It will be understood that from thecontrol room on the first floor it will be possible to energize any orall of the conveyors associated with the floor and that suitableindications are located on a control panel to show the condition of eachof the conveyors at any given time.

Reference to FIG. 9 will clarify some of the concepts present here,since it is a section through the floor taken along the mid-line of theparking lane 64. In a somewhat schematic manner it can be seen that aseries of pallets 36 are arranged along the surface of the floor withtheir blocks 54 and 55 depending downwardly into the wide groove 103.The manner in which the conveyors 104, 105, and 106 are located is clear.in the drawings as are the dogs which are used to push the palletsalong in the grooves. At the right end of FIG. 9 a cross section of thein aisle 61 is shown with its narrow grooves 72 and 73 and its widegrooves 76 and 77 with the chain conveyors 81 and 82 located therein,the view showing the motor for driving these chains together and showingdogs extending upwardly into the grooves to engage portions of a pallet.At the left hand side of FIG. 9 is shown the out aisle 62 with itsnarrow grooves 87 and 88 and its wide grooves 89 and 91 with theconveyors 94 and 95, respectively, located therein. A doubleshaftedmotor is shown as driving these chains together and the dogs are shownextending upwardly into the grooves 89 and 91 to engage a pallet. Withreference to FIG. 8 it will be noted that a number of switches arelocated in various parts of the floor of the garage to indicate to theoperator of the control center 24 on the first floor the situation onthe storage floor. These switches are engaged by the pallets 36 as theymove around on the floor and, for instance, turn on lights on a controlpanel indicating the location of the pallets at any given time. A switch107 is located in the in aisle 61 between the wide grooves 76 and 77 tobe engaged by a pallet as it comes off the elevator 25. A switch 108 islocated in the in aisle being engaged by a pallet when the pallet is inalignment with the parking lane 64. Similar switches 109, 111, 112, and113 are located in the in aisle 61 in position to be engaged by palletswhen they are aligned, respectively, with the parking lanes 65, 66, 67and 68. The switch 114 is located in the parking lane 64 in position tobe engaged by a pallet when it has been carried by the conveyor 104 intoposition so that it overlies the portion of the conveyor 105. In thesame way, switches 115, 116, 117, and 118 are located in the parkinglanes 65, 66, 67, 68, respectively, in position to be contacted bypallets after they have been carried to the ends of their respectivefirst conveyors (corresponding to the conveyor 104 in the parking lane64). A switch 119 is located in the parking lane 64 in position to beengaged by a pallet as it reaches the end of the second conveyor 105,and similar switches 121, 122, 123, and 124, are located in the sameportions of their respective parking lanes 65, 66, 67 and 68. A switch125 is located in the parking lane 64 in the middle portion of the thirdconveyor 106 and similar switches 126, 127, 128 and 129 are located inlike locations in the parking lanes 65, 66, 67 and 68, respectively. Aswitch 131 is located at the end of the parking lane 64 on the far sideof the narrow groove 87 in the out aisle 62. This switch is engaged by apallet, after the pallet has been carried by the conveyor 106 intoposition in the out lane 62. In a similar manner, the extensions of theparking lanes 65, 66, 67, and 68 are provided with similar switches 132,133, 134, and 135, respectively. A

switch 136 is located in the out lane 62 adjacent the elevator toindicate that the conveyors 94 and 95 have carried a pallet to aposition adjacent the elevator at which time the conveyors 92 and 93 ofthe elevator take over. Lastly, a switch 137 is located at the righthand end of the return lane 63 to indicate that the conveyor 99 hascarried a pallet well into the in aisle 61.

The operation of the invention will now be readily understood in view ofthe above description. The automobile 11 enters the garage through theentrance 12 and is driven onto the floor in the area of the ramps 28 and29. Preferably an attendant, but possibly the operator, Will drive thecar into the ramp until its front wheel strikes the front wheel stops31. At that time the conveyor 34 is actuated, thus driving the pusherapparatus 32 and causing the vertically upstanding dog 33 to contact therear bumper of the automobile and move the automobile along. Eventually,the automobile is pushed onto the pallet 36 which rests on the conveyor35. Re-

ferring to FIG. 5, the rear wheels of the automobile rest in thedepressions 46 and 47, while the front wheels rest in the elongateddepressions 48 and 49, these latter depressions being elonagted in orderto compensate for automobiles of different wheel bases. Actuation of theconveyor 35 carries the pallet with the automobile on it into the upelevator 25 with the assistance of the conveyors 78 and 79, which inFIG. 2, are covered by a pallet 36. The elevator 25 is energized andmoves vertically upwardly until it reaches a desired floor. Now,referring to FIG. 8, when the elevator reaches the same lever as thefloor, the conveyors 78 and 79 are actuated to move the pallet 36 intothe in aisle 61. It should be understood that in moving the palletsideways the blocks 54 and 55 move in the narrow grooves 69 and 71 ofthe elevator and the narrow grooves 72 and 73 of the in aisle 61. Atthat same time the blocks 56 and 58 are moving through the wide groove76 while the blocks 57 and 59 move through the wide groove 77. Now,assuming that the pallet 36 is in the elevator with the blocks 56 and 57at the rear of the elevator, the dogs on the conveyors 78 and 79 engagethe blocks 56 and 57 so that eventually these conveyors push the palletinto the in aisle 61 far enough so that the dogs on the conveyors 81 and82 can engage the blocks 58 and 59 at the forward side of the pallet. Itmight be stated that as the pallet moves around over the floor of thegarage the blocks reside in the grooves; when the pallet is moving inthe direction of the length of the block, the blocks reside in narrowgrooves, and when the pallet is moving in the direction transversely ofthe length of any given block, that block resides in a large groove.Usually, when one of the blocks resides in a large groove, it is beingcontacted by a dog on a conveyor in that groove, but not necessarily so.Assuming, then, that there is a space available for a pallet of aautomobile in the parking lane 64, the man at the control center on thefirst floor observes that the pallet, actuated by the conveyors 78 and79* of the elevator, strikes the switch 107. When this happens, he stopsthe conveyors 78 and 79 and actuates the conveyors 81 and 82, the dogsof which contact the back blocks 56 and 57 of the pallet and push italong. Eventually, the pallet strikes the switch 108 indicating to theman operating the control center that the pallet has come directlyopposite the parking line 64. Assuming that the operator has caused anypart of an automobile already in the lane to be pushed as far to theleft as possible, there is a space for the pallet in the area associatedwith the conveyor 104. Therefore upon the actuation of the switch 108the conveyors 81 and 82 are stopped and the conveyor 104 is started. Thedogs on the conveyor 104 engage the forward block 54 of the pallet anddrag it into the position such that the pallet strikes the switch 114indicating to the operator that it has at last reached the spot in whichit is to be parked.

In describing the method of removing a pallet and automobile for returnto the customer, let us suppose that the pallet 36 in which we areinterested is at the right hand end of the parking lane 64 overlying theconveyor 104. When the conveyor 104 Was stopped, upon the striking ofthe switch 114 by the pallet, the forward block 54 was engaged by a dogof the conveyor 104. Now, upon reenergization of the conveyor 104, thedog which was engaging the block 54 disappears downwardly around thesprocket wheel of the endless chain conveyor and another dog approachesthe pallet from behind and engages the block 55 and pushes the palletforward. At the same time, a similar action is taking place inconnection with the pallets associated with the conveyor 105 and withthe conveyor 106. The left hand pallet ends up overlying the out aisle62. The next pallet ends up overlying the conveyor 106, whereas thepallet in which we are interested overlies the conveyor 105. It, ofcourse, has engaged the switch 119 indicating to the operator that it isin the middle of the parking lane. The pallet which was moved by theconveyor 106 has moved forward across the out aisle 62 until it strikesthe switch 131 indicating to the operator its position. Then, he stopsoperating the conveyor 106 and starts the conveyors 94, 95, thusdragging the pallet sideways with the block 54 riding in the narrowgroove 87 and the block 55 riding in the narrow groove 88, while theblocks 56 and 58 move along the side groove 89 and the blocks 57 and 59move along the wide groove 91. Eventually, this pallet strikes theswitch 136 indicating that it has moved to a position in line with thereturn lane 63. It also is very close to the elevator 26. The operatorstarts the conveyors 94 and 95 and energizes the conveyor 99 associatedwith the return lane 63. This conveyor has a multitude of dogs and thefirst one that comes along strikes the block 55 of the pallet andcarries it along the return lane. Eventually, it goes far enough so thatit strikes the switch 137 at which time it overlies the in aisle 61. Theconveyor 99 is then stopped and the conveyors 81 and 82 have beenenergized until the pallet is carried along the in aisle 61 until it islined up with its original parking lane 64. At that time the conveyor104 is energized to engage the front block 54 of the pallet and move itinto position overlying the inner end of the conveyor 104. In themeanwhile, the same procedure is carried out for the second pallet 36and it passes over to the out aisle 62, along the return lane 63, overthe in aisle 61 to its parking lane 64- and moves into the parking lane64 but not until the original left hand pallet has been moved into thesecond or middle position to make room for it. By this time, the palletin which we are interested (originally the one at the right in theparking lane 64) has been moved onto the out lane 62 and, under themovement of the conveyors 94 and 95, is moved until it strikes theswitch 136. Since the conveyors 94 and 95 engage the front block 56 and57 of the pallet, it is still not in position to be engaged by the dogson the conveyors 92 and 93 of the elevator 26 so the pallet stays in itsposition while the dogs which originally contacted the blocks 56 and 57move downwardly and under the endless chain arrangement of the conveyor.The next dog moving along, however, engages the rearward facing blocks58 and 59 and pushes the pallet onto the elevator with the blocks 54 andS riding in the narrow grooves 83 and 84, respectively, in the floor ofthe elevator. The conveyors 94 and 95 are stopped and the elevatorconveyors 92 and 93 are started. The first dog strikes the blocks 56 and57 on the forward side of the pallet and pulls the pallet partway intothe elevator. The next dog coming along pushes on the back blocks 58 and59 and advances the pallet as far as desirable into the elevator. Theelevator 26 moves downwardly until it reaches the first floor and theconveyor 35 carries the pallet out of the elevator into alignment withone of the conveyors 38 (see FIG. 3). Eventually, the automobile ismoved off the pallet by the conveyor 38 until it strikes the safetytreadle stop 39 and the conveyor 38 is stopped. The operator then getsinto the automobile and drives out through the exit 21.

With reference to FIG. 10, it can be seen that the path which the palletwith its automobile makes resembles two L-shaped conveyors placed in avertical plane with the vertical legs of each L representing anelevator. The horizontal legs of the Ls, in one case represents the inaisle 61 and the other case represents the out aisle 62. Between thesetwo horizontal legs extends the parking lanes as well as the return lane63, but each parking lane corroborates with the in lane 61 and the oulane 62 as well as the return lane 63 to form a loop so that, in effect,the horizontal legs of the Us are joined by loop conveyors permittingthe pallets and automobiles in any given parking lane to be rotatedaround the loop until one of them is in position to be moved to the downelevator.

It should be understood that there are several ways of operating thisgarage automatically. One of them is, as has been described, theprovision of a small light on a chart in the control panel indicatingwhether a pallet resides in any given position. There would be a smallplan of each floor of the garage on the wall of the control center,exactly as shown in FIG. 8, with a small bulb indicating the presence ofa pallet over any one of the switches so that the operator knows exactlywhere the pallets are on each floor of the apparatus. Another way ofaccomplishing the same thing would be to use a computing apparatus witha memory device which would remember exactly what happened to eachpal-let according to the signals received from the switches. It isdesirable to have attendants who will drive the automobiles intoposition for the conveyors to place the automobile onto the pallets andto remove the automobile from the apparatus when it comes out. There isno necessity for the attendant to go up in the elevator with theautomobile in the pallet or to assist in moving the pallet andautomobile around on the parking floor. All of this can be doneautomatically. Therefore, the attendants are present on the first floorin full view of the operator of the apparatus at all times. Presumably,no one would ever be up on the parking floor and, therefore, he need notworry about avoiding persons walking around on the floor. It should benoted in connection with FIG. 2 that the pallets 36, as they leave theelevator 26 and the automobiles are moved, pass through the tunnel 27and appear again in connection with the up elevator, where automobilesmay be placed on them. Sufiicient storage space is available in thetunnel for a large number of pallets and, of course, if the numberbecomes too great for the tunnel, the pallets are returned to theupstairs parking areas from which they may be brought down at any time.It will be understood that the same narrow and wide grooves as well asconveyors exist under the tunnel 27 to move the pallets around as weredescribed in connection with the parking floor.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form andconstruction of the invention without departing from the material spiritthereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to theexact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include allsuch as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new anddesired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Storage apparatus comprising a generally rectangular horizontalfloor, an in aisle consisting of a linear unidirectional conveyorextending across one end, an out aisle consisting of a linearunidirectional conveyor extending across the other end, a return laneconsisting of a linear unidirectional conveyor extending longitudinallyof the floor between the two aisles, a plurality of parking lanes eachconsisting of a linear unidirectional conveyor extending longitudinallyof the floor between the two aisles, each aisle being formed with twoparallel narrow grooves and at least one wide groove lying between thenarrow grooves, each lane being formed with two parallel narrow groovesand a wide groove between them, each groove consisting of anupwardly-opening recess formed in the floor, a pallet adapted to move onthe floor along the aisles and lanes, said pallet comprising arectangular plate, flanges extending upwardly from the plate anddefining two longitudinal wheel tracks, an oilcatching depression formedin the plate between the tracks, a caster mounted on the under side ofthe plate at each corner, elongated blocks extending downwardly from theunder side of the plate, a block extending transversely of the plate inline with two casters at one end, another block extending transverselyof the plate in line with two casters at the other end, the remainingblocks extending longitudinally of the plate adjacent the sides and inline with the two casters on the respective sides, the thickness of theblocks and the width of the casters being substantially equal to thewidth of the narrow grooves, the casters extending downwardly below thebottom of the blocks to contact the bottom of the narrow grooves, thelength of the blocks being substantially the same as the width of thesaid wide grooves, the pallet moving along the aisles in a directiontransverse of its length and moving along the lanes in a longitudinaldirection.

2. Storage apparatus comprising a horizontal floor, an in aisleconsisting of a linear unidirectional conveyor extending across one end,an out aisle consisting of a linear unidirectional conveyor extendingacross the other end, a return lane consisting of a linearunidirectional conveyor between the two aisles, a plurality of parkinglanes each consisting of a linear unidirectional conveyor extendingbetween the two aisles, each aisle and lane being formed with twoparallel narrow grooves and at least one wide groove lying between thenarrow grooves, each groove consisting of an upwardly-opening recessformed in the floor, a pallet adapted to move on the floor along theaisles and lanes, said pallet comprising a rectangular plate, a castermounted on the under side of the plate at each corner, elongated blocksextending downwardly from the under side of the plate, a block extendingtransversely of the plate in line with two casters at one end, anotherblock extending transversely of the plate in line with two casters atthe other end, the remaining blocks extending longitudinally of theplate adjacent the sides and in line with the two casters on therespective sides, the thickness of the blocks and the width of thecasters being substantially equal to the width of the narrow grooves,the casters extending downwardly below the bottom of the blocks tocontact the bottom of the narrow grooves, the length of the blocks beingsubstantially the same as the width of the said wide grooves, the palletmoving along the aisles in a direction transverse of its length andmoving along the lanes in a longi tudinal direction.

3. Storage apparatus for article carriers, comprising (a) a vertical upelevator,

(b) a vertical down elevator, the two elevators defining a verticalplane,

(c) a first horizontal conveyor connected at one end to the up elevatorand operating unidirectionally away from the up elevator and extendingat a right angle to the said vertical plane,

(d) a second horizontal conveyor connected at one end to the downelevator, operating unidirectionally toward the down elevator, andextending at a right angle to the said vertical plane, the first andsecond horizontal conveyors lying in the same horizontal plane andparallel to and coextensive with one another,

(e) a plurality of laterally-spaced, parallel cross conveyors extendingbetween the first and second horizontal conveyors at right anglesthereto and operating unidirectionally from the first horizontalconveyor toward the second horizontal conveyor, each cross conveyorhaving a plurality of storage positions,

(1) and a return conveyor adjacent the elevators parallel to the crossconveyors and operating unidirectionally from the second horizontalconveyor toward the first horizontal conveyor, whereby the conveyors arecapable of moving a carrier about a continuous closed path in thehorizontal plane, the path being determined by a cross conveyor, thesecond horizontal conveyor, the return conveyor, and the firsthorizontal, conveyor in the order named.

4. Storage apparatus as recited in claim 3, including (g) a plurality ofcarriers movable along the conveyors, the conveyors and the carriersbeing so constructed that each carrier remains in a fixed orientation atall times.

5. Storage apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein each of theconveyors is provided with a pair of tracks and an endless chainprovided with dogs.

6. Storage apparatus as recited in claim 3, including a loading stationat the lower end of the up elevator and an unloading station at thebottom of the down elevator, each station including a horizontalconveyor.

7. A parking garage for automobiles, comprising (a) a vertical upelevator,

(b) a vertical down elevator, the two elevators defining a verticalplane, 1

(c) a first horizontal conveyor connected at one end to the up elevatorand operating unidirectionally away from the up elevator and extendingat a right angle to the said vertical plane,

(d) a second horizontal conveyor connected at one end to the downelevator, operating unidirectionally toward the down elevator, andextending at a right angle to the said vertical plane, the first andsecond horizontal conveyors lying in the same horizontal plane andparallel to and coextensive with one another,

(e) a plurality of laterally-spaced, parallel cross conveyors extendingbetween the first and second horizontal conveyors at right anglesthereto and operating unidirectionally from the first horizontalconveyor toward the second horizontal conveyor, each cross conveyorhaving a plurality of storage positions,

(f) and a return conveyor adjacent the elevators parallel to the crossconveyors and operating unidirectionally from the second horizontalconveyor toward the first horizontal conveyor, each of the conveyors isprovided with a pair of tracks and an endless chain provided with dogs,

(g) a plurality of carriers movable along the conveyors, the conveyorsand the carriers being so constructed that each carrier remains in afixed orientation at all times, whereby the conveyors are capable ofmoving a carrier about a continuous closed path in the horizontal plane,the path being determined by a cross conveyor, the second horizontalconveyor, the return conveyor, and the first horizontal conveyor in theorder named,

(it) a loading station at the lower end of the up elevator and anunloading station at the bottom of the down elevator, each stationincluding a horizontal conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,775,799 Young Sept. 16, 1930 2,069,886 Joslin Feb. 9, 1937 2,102,995Coombs Dec. 21, 1937 2,722,322 Gunderson Nov. 1, 1955 2,837,223 WolfiJune 3, 1958 2,848,121 Semler Aug. 19, 1958 2,849,126 Kerekes Aug. 26,1958

